24. Enter the Hellcat (Part 2)
The F6F Hellcat first flew in the summer of 1942, and made its combat debut in September 1943. It featured folding wings for easier storage in less space. This allowed aircraft carriers to carry a greater number of fighters. The new model became faster, more powerful, more maneuverable, and longer ranged than its predecessor, the F4F. It outclassed Japanese Zeroes in every way except maneuverability at low speed. The Hellcat became an instant hit, and proved itself such a success that within a few months, it had become the Navy’s standard carrier-based fighter. 12,275 of them were produced during the war, and they were the main platform which the US Navy used to clear the Pacific skies of enemy planes.
Versatile and rugged, F6Fs conducted fighter sweeps over Japanese airfields, flew combat air patrols to protect the forces below from aerial attack, and performed ground attacks in support of soldiers and Marines. Standard armament was six .50 caliber machines, but some planes substituted a pair of 20mm canon for two of the machine guns. F6Fs could also carry a pair of 1000-pound bombs, but its most destructive load for ground attacks were half a dozen 5-inch rockets, whose salvos exceeded a destroyer’s broadside. Although it did not enter service until the final two years of the conflict, the F6F downed 5156 enemy aircraft. Nicknamed “The Ace Maker” for the seeming ease with which its pilots achieved that status, with 307 Hellcat pilots becoming aces during the war, the plane achieved an enviable 19:1 kill ratio, and accounted for 75 percent of the US Navy’s air-to-air victories.
